


Opening Up

by hiiimaugust



Series: Kitty the Cowardly Courier [4]
Category: Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-19
Updated: 2017-01-23
Packaged: 2018-09-18 14:58:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9390071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hiiimaugust/pseuds/hiiimaugust
Summary: Some little snip-its between Kitty and Boone





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> When will I update the main fic? The goal is tomorrow but I love these little one shots so much.

After starting to travel with Boone, Kitty developed a obsession with working on her strength and endurance. Her time at Big MT had done something for her physicality but that wasn't strictly natural. Carrying slightly more than she could handle, sprinting short distances, climbing things. She was agile, fast, and smart. Now, all she needed to be was strong. She didn't feel comfortable facing her murderer weak.

"Christ, Hastings!" Boone yelled from somewhere below her. "I didn't sign up to travel with a human Bighorner!"

She dropped carefully to level ground. "Sorry. It was the best thing I could come up with to work on my upper arm strength."

"You planning on enlisting?"

It took a few seconds for her to realize that he was referencing their recent stint at Camp Forlorn Hope, not her exercise habits. "Don't think I'd be allowed. Plenty of reasons to turn me down. I'm not a citizen." She watched as Boone prepared a gecko for their meal. "I'm obligated to deliver that damn chip first. Excessive brain trauma might rule me out medically."

"You're a shit shot. Can't see through those grimy glasses of yours."

"True." She tossed him a water bottle. "Not to mention, it seems like what the New California Republic needs right now is someone who _isn't_ NCR."

He grunted.

"Why did you ask?"

"You're starting to toughen up. Less soft. First few days, I did most the killing."

"Apparently once you've amputated a man's leg, nothing can make you squeamish." She shrugged. "I'll take first watch." Neither one of them slept for long. Kitty suspected Boone was hiding things from her but she hadn't opened up either. Nightmares were often what ended the other's watch, even if neither of them acknowledged it.

Now that she thought about it, there was a lot she refused to acknowledge. Like how she had zero intentions of killing the man that shot her. She flipped Benny's lighter over and over again, like she would her closed switchblade. She didn't want revenge. She wanted answers.

Some, she knew he could give. What the chip was. Who the fuck programmed Victor to hire the Mojave Express to deliver it? Why he shot her instead of bribing her or impersonating the person who was going to receive the parcel? Why did he wear a damn checkered suit? Did he realize how stupid not paying the Khans was? Did he feel guilty at all?

Others were more cosmic in nature like "WHY THE EVER LIVING FUCK DID IT HAVE TO BE ME?"

When they started getting ready for the trek to the next Ranger Station the following morning, she took a deep breath. "Boone, I think it's time you told me what really happened to your wife."

"Why? It doesn't matter."

"We'll work together better if we understand each other." She adjusted her bed roll on the front of her pack.

He told the story while they hiked. She listened carefully but when he said, "What the Legion does to women, it's worse than death" she stumbled slightly. How close had she been to being taken into slavery that evening in Nipton? How close had she gotten in Nelson?

"Sorry," she mumbled.

Then, on the path ahead, they spotted crimson. She tensed and Boone lifted his rifle. "Assassination squad," he growled.

"Great! The Legion wants us dead and we haven't even stopped for lunch!" She jammed a new magazine in her pistol.


	2. Chapter 2

Of all the times for Boone to propose marriage Kitty did not expect it to be after she defused a bomb. Well, she didn't _expect_ him to propose at all, if it counted as a proposal. The conversation started innocently enough.

"NCR Embassy is in New Vegas."

"Is it?" She carefully double checked the bomb. She would hate for it to go off while she carried it to Hsu. She knew how to deal with the electronic elements, not the actual explosive material. "I've never been inside. My deliveries have never brought me this far north."

"Yeah."

"Is there something you need to do at the Embassy? You can do it while I find that Dazzle woman."

He looked at her for a little longer than he should have. "Kitty, this isn't easy for me to ask."

"Kitty? You never use my first name. Is everything alright?"

They stood awkwardly in the tram, the bomb between them."I have a pension. When I die I want you to have it."

"Boone, despite your multiple attempts, no one believes we're related. I'm not in the mood to attempt to fraud a government. Mind holding the door?"

He did and they walked solemnly to office. She explained the situation and Hsu sighed. Kitty started rubbing her arms as they walked away. The urges made her itch. Boone handed her a fixer tablet. "I hate this stuff. Makes me queasy."

His expression said 'take it'. Overprotective ass.

She popped it as they walked across the tarmac. "Now, what was it you wanted to do at the embassy and is there a way we can do it _legally_?"

"My pension. It has to go to someone when I die."

"And?" She slid under the door as it rolled up. Boone rolled his eyes and stepped into Outer Vegas once it was all the way up. "What? It's only dangerous if the door is closing."

"We have to get married."

"WHAT?"

He looked deadly serious.

She took off her hat and ran her fingers through her growing hair. It almost instantly fluffed into an afro. "Boone, I realize we've done a lot of crazy shit, and we both know that either one of us are entirely okay mentally, but that's the worst idea ever. You still love Carla."

"Yeah."

"Yeah. I totally get the fear of dying. Trust me. I was dumped in a shallow grave. You're not going to die soon, not if I have anything to say about it."

They walked in uncomfortable silence, a common event since Boone dragged her to the Followers to get clean. He was still easily the person she was closest to but something was _off_ now. Unfortunately, she couldn't put her finger on why. Maybe they had just spent too much time apart.

"Hastings, watch out!" Boone grabbed her arm and pulled her down to the ground.

She looked around his arm and spotted a fiend with a laser pistol. The NCR troopers stationed nearby took them down. "Correction, you're going to make sure _I_ don't die anytime soon."

"That's it," he grunted. "We're getting you new glasses."


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why does no one else seem write low perception Couriers? I just guess that's just going to be my thing in this fandom.

Kitty had a lot of problems but the one that caused the most problems for others was her lack of ability to pay attention. It's not her poor eyesight, but a general inability to sit still and focus. Arcade called it "Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder." She tried to explain it to Boone while he dragged her to the clinic but he didn't seem to understand. "Boone, my glasses are fine. They survived me getting shot in the head, for fuck's sake."

Boone grunted in reply.

"I'm _not_ going in there." She's not proud of it, but she pouted. Boone tended to forget, or perhaps didn't realize, she was an adult. 

"You want to loose a foot?"

"A woman sets off one fucking landmine." Okay, more like every landmine they came across. "I get that you're worried, Boone, but a new pair of glasses isn't going to help. It's only going to drain our bottle caps. And what about _your_ problem?" She has no idea if he'll catch it.

"I said I didn't want to talk about Bitter Springs."

"Four months ago." A fuzzy memory from her days on Med-X came up. She couldn't be sure but it was worth a try. The worst reaction would be him leaving again. "Boone, I ran chems for the Great Khans."

He startled.

She instantly felt guilty. "Forget I mentioned it."

"You ran chems."

"I was _on_ chems." Not the direction she wanted the conversation to go. "Look, okay, I was desperate, but this isn't about my employment history. It's about what happened at Bitter Springs. It involved the Khans and it involved you. I understand if you can't tell me but I wish you would."

"Kid, you're going to be the death of me."

After a half hour of the usual uncomfortable silence, he conceded to visiting Bitter Springs. He didn't even think to demand she get new glasses first. She would have. Then again, she's the smart one and Boone's the one who's actually useful. Hastings and Boone, Courier Six with a sniper at her six, trekking it across the Mojave once again. They hadn't really left Outer Vegas since she got clean. She's jumpy. He's quiet. Neither of them spoke. Kitty wondered if they should have brought Rex.

The refugee camp didn't look like much to her. Courier or not, she was still a Townie at heart. Boone wanted to hike up to where he'd been stationed that night. She agreed. After a conversation that left her more pissed and brokenhearted, they settled in for the night. Boone took first watch.

Only to wake her up with a hissed "Legion raiding party. Doesn't look like they're here for us."

Even with surprise on their side, it was a bloodbath. Kitty ran out of ammo quickly and resorted to using a fallen Legionnaire's machete. The heavy weapon did more damage than her switchblade. Near the end of the last wave, another Legionnaire wrestled it from her, snapping her right wrist in the process. Boone shot him from behind, brains splattering. She wanted to yell at him for almost shooting her but the pain and exhaustion was bad. At last, the final man fell.

Boone ran back to the ridge for her first aid kit. He didn't say anything when she jammed a Stimpack into her wrist and then quietly went from survivor to survivor. She wasn't the best medic in the world but it was better than them having nothing.

"You're angels," one woman whispered as Kitty carefully removed a bullet.

"Yeah, that's Boone." Kitty looked briefly over at where Boone sat."A guardian angel with a .308."

Kitty's improperly healed wrist would occasionally ache for the rest of her life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *bird noise* Auggie wants a comment.
> 
> (My name is August, btw)


End file.
